When outraged carnivore Clara Peller shrieked "Where's the beef?" back in 1984, she never would have meant to inspire acts of violent retribution for paltry fast-food portions.

But a Georgia man kicked Old Peller's rally cry up a notch early Sunday morning when he fire-bombed his local Taco Bell for skimping on the meat in his two Chalupas. Returning home from the drive-thru, the customer opened his less than satisfactory tostadas and called the taco chain, demanding to be made whole.

The manager, Cynthia Thompson, explained to him that since the restaurant was closing, the matter couldn't be resolved that night.

The customer responded as any galloping racist would by allegedly saying, "You must be one of them n*ggers up there," and added (presumably with a wink), "That's alright, I'll just come and redecorate the place."

Oakland's police chief on Friday defended officers involved in a clash with anti-Wall Street protesters, saying they used what they believed to be the least amount of force possible to protect themselves.

Interim Chief Howard Jordan said he takes full responsibility for the actions of his officers, whom protesters accused of injuring an Iraq war veteran during the clash Tuesday night. Scott Olsen remained hospitalized in fair condition with a fractured skull after he was struck in the head by an object fired by police, fellow veterans said.

Jordan's comments came amid continued protests in large cities across California, including in Oakland where many re-established camp outside city hall despite police attempts at dismantling it. Across the bay in San Francisco, hundreds of demonstrators maintained a tent city in a public plaza, while 51 people were arrested in San Diego as police there cleared them from a park. Left-wing filmmaker Michael Moore was scheduled to appear at the Oakland protest later Friday.

Jordan said he and city staff had reached out to the protesters. He also promised that allegations of misconduct and excessive use of force would be thoroughly scrutinized, saying in a statement that he was "concerned about the injuries to protesters and officers alike; the decision to use any level of force is never taken lightly, and certainly was not in this situation."

Oakland officers did not suffer any serious injuries during the clash Tuesday, just "bangs and bruises from bottles and other objects that were thrown at and on them," said Cynthia Perkins, an assistant to the director at the police department.

Two former Transportation Security Administration officers based at John F. Kennedy Airport have admitted to stealing $40,000 in cash from a checked bag.

The Queens District Attorney's Office says 44-year-old Coumar Persad, of Queens, and 31-year-old Davon Webb, of the Bronx, pleaded guilty on Thursday to grand larceny, obstructing governmental administration and official misconduct. They each face six months in jail and five years' probation at their Jan. 10 sentencing.

Authorities say the two TSA officers swiped the cash after spotting it in a piece of luggage while it was being X-rayed. The cash was recovered.

An attorney for Persad said his client understands he made a mistake and wishes to move on with his life.

Source: The Associated Press

On November 19-22, 2011, the trial of George W Bush (former U.S. President) and Anthony L Blair (former British Prime Minister) will be held in Kuala Lumpur. This is the first time that war crimes charges will be heard against the two former heads of state in compliance with proper legal process.

Charges are being brought against the accused by the Kuala Lumpur War Crimes Commission (KLWCC) following the due process of the law. The Commission, having received complaints from war victims in Iraq in 2009, proceeded to conduct a painstaking and an in-depth investigation for close to two years and in 2011, constituted formal charges on war crimes against Bush, Blair and their associates.

The Iraq invasion in 2003 and its occupation had resulted in the death of 1.4 million Iraqis. Countless others had endured torture and untold hardship. The cries of these victims have thus far gone unheeded by the international community. The fundamental human right to be heard has been denied to them.

As a result, the KLWCC had been established in 2008 to fill this void and act as a peoples' initiative to provide an avenue for such victims to file their complaints and let them have their day in a court of law.

The first charge against George W Bush and Anthony L Blair is for Crimes Against Peace wherein:

The Accused persons had committed Crimes against Peace, in that the Accused persons planned, prepared and invaded the sovereign state of Iraq on 19 March 2003 in violation of the United Nations Charter and international law.

The body of Rebecca Zahau, the girlfriend of Jonah Shacknai, the CEO of the Scottsdale-based pharmaceutical company Medicis, will be exhumed so a private pathologist can conduct a second autopsy to try and determine whether her bizarre death at a California mansion was a suicide or a homicide.

Read all about Zahau's strange death here.

Police in San Diego ruled Zahau's strange hanging death to be a suicide last month, but the 32-year-old's family doesn't believe she could have killed herself, and has asked Pennsylvania-based pathologist Doctor Cyril Wecht to conduct a second autopsy, despite the California Attorney General's decision to not review the case.

Zahau's body was found by Shacknai's brother in July, just days after the CEO's son, Max, was rushed to a hospital in critical condition after falling down a flight of stairs in the mansion. Zahau was caring for the boy at the time of the fall.

Max Shacknai later died from his injuries. Police suspect Zahau killed herself because she felt guilty over Max's death.

"Were these deaths the result of criminal conduct? Was Max's death a homicide? The answer is no," San Diego County Sheriff Bill Gore said at a press conference last month. "It was a tragic accident. Was Rebecca's death a homicide? Again the answer is no. It was a suicide ... These deaths were not the result of any criminal acts."

The mother of a Connecticut man facing a possible death sentence for a brutal fatal home invasion broke down crying Friday as she told jurors her son was raped as a teenager and described her frantic efforts to save him after his behavior changed dramatically.

Jude Komisarjevsky said her son Joshua had run away when he was nearly 15 and when he came home, he looked transformed.

"There was tremendous pain in his expression," she said. "His eyes were absolutely dead."

His mother, testifying during the sentencing phase of her son's trial, said she didn't know at the time what happened, but noticed her son grew angry and had satanic symbols in his room along with the words "death, die and suicide." She said she learned years later from her son - when he was in prison - that he was raped by someone he trusted.

Joshua Komisarjevsky was hospitalized a short time later after he set a vacant gas station on fire. The psychiatric hospital recommended he be medicated, but his mother said she was concerned about the drug's effects and that her son would abuse it.

Why did police officer fire gas canister into crowd trying to help injured Iraq veteran? Protesters take to the streets of New York and Oakland in solidarity after Marine was left in critical condition

• Ex-Marine Scott Olsen, 24, of Daly City, California, served in Iraq in 2006 and 2007 - and was hit in California protests
• Anger over Oakland police 'brutality' fans across America as protesters march in solidarity with Olsen on Wednesday
• Occupy Oakland activists trying to reclaim camp they were in for 15 days - until police evicted them early on Tuesday
• More trouble on Tuesday at 5pm when 400 people marched towards Frank Ogawa Plaza, which police surrounded
• Conditions in the Oakland camp were thought to have become unsavoury as tented town became semi-permanent
• Some protesters threw turquoise and red paint at riot police officers last night and others reportedly threw rocks
• Meanwhile in Atlanta, Georgia, dozens of protesters were evicted from a park and 53 were arrested by police

Protesters took to the streets of New York and Oakland in force last night as anger boiled over after a two tour Iraq veteran was left seriously injured when he was blasted in the face by a police tear gas canister.

War hero Scott Olsen, 24, was hospitalised in a serious condition after he suffered a fractured skull during a march with other protesters in the Californian city on Tuesday night.

Questions were today being asked of how police handled the situation after videos emerged of an officer throwing a gas canister into the crowd after they had rushed to help Mr Olsen, who was on the floor.

A man opened fire with an automatic weapon Friday in what authorities called a terrorist attack on the U.S. Embassy in Bosnia. A policeman and the gunman were wounded, but the embassy said none of its employees was hurt.

Sarajevo Mayor Alija Behmen said the gunman "got off a tram with a Kalashnikov and started shooting at the American Embassy." Witnesses told Bosnian television that the man urged pedestrians to move away, saying he was targeting only the embassy.

One police officer guarding the building was wounded before police surrounded the gunman. After a 30-minute standoff, the sound of a single shot echoed and AP video showed the shooter slump to the ground.

Police arrested the wounded man - who one of Bosnia's three presidents said is a foreigner - and took him away in an ambulance as pedestrians cowered behind buildings and vehicles. Hospital spokeswoman Biljana Jandric told The Associated Press the gunman had a minor wound to his leg, and would spend the night at the hospital before being released into police custody.

In Washington, State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland said several bullets struck the outside wall of the embassy, but that all embassy personnel were safe. She said the wounded police officer had been assigned to protect the embassy. Ambassador Patrick Moon expressed his gratitude for the swift response by the police.

It's taken 300 years, but the old boys club of royal primogeniture has finally been shelved.

Sixteen Commonwealth "realms" that still maintain the Queen as their head of state agreed Friday to change the rules of succession that have favoured boys over girls since the 17th century.

The rules of primogeniture - which determine the constitutional figurehead of Canada, the United Kingdom and Australia, among others - were belatedly dragged into the 21st century by dint of the massive popularity of Prince William and his wife Kate, the Duchess of Cambridge.

"In future, the order of succession should be determined simply by the order of birth," British Prime Minister David Cameron said in announcing the agreement at a Commonwealth leaders' summit. "And we've agreed to introduce this for all descendents from (Charles) the Prince of Wales."

"Put simply, if the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge were to have a little girl, that girl would one day be our queen."